Much is being written about the "new millennium" these days,
everything from "Y2K" horror stories to the usual starry-eyed
predictions and cynical doomsaying about what life will be like for humanity
in the year 2000 and beyond. I remember hearing in my youth that all sorts
of wonderful things were going to happen by 2000. Now, sitting here days
from that mystical date, I am inclined to say that all that talk was just,
well, talk.

After all, the twentieth century has been the bloodiest century in all
of history, with an estimated 170 million human beings sent to their deaths
in the name of communism, socialism, fascism, Nazism, democracy, and even
"freedom." And this figure excludes those killed in actual wars.
Has any good at all come out of this murderous age?

Well, yes. Quite a lot of good, really, when you compare the state of
mankind at the beginning of the century with the many blessings we enjoy
on the eve of the year 2000.

Some examples: In 1900, the average American male could expect to live
46.3 years; his wife, 48.3 years. Today, men can look forward to their
73rd birthdays, and women can expect to blow out 79.7 candles on their
cakes. In 1900, 797 Americans per 100,000 died of infectious diseases;
today, only 59 do. At the turn of the century, the average American earned
an annual $4,748 in 1998 dollars; today, he rakes in $32,444. And purchasing
power has increased: One hundred years ago, the average American worked
56 minutes to afford a half-gallon of milk, 16 minutes for a loaf of bread,
and 2 hours 40 minutes for a three-pound chicken. Today, it's 7 minutes,
3.5 minutes, and 14 minutes, respectively.

Science and technology have brought about an immense improvement in mankind's
earthly lot, but certainly everything is not rosey and gay. In order to
support the U.S. leviathan responsible for some of those 170 million deaths,
Americans have to fork over more of their productive lives than ever.
In 1900, federal, state, and local governments combined spent 7.6 percent
of GDP. On the eve of the twenty-first century, the federal government
alone wolfs down 18.7 percent of GDP. State and local governments consume
another 9.4 percent. "Tax Freedom Day," the day each American
is finally done working to fund government at all levels, was January
31 in 1902. In 1999, it was May 11.

It's also hard to argue that humanity is better off from a spiritual
and cultural standpoint. It's not as though humans were ever any less
prone to immoral conduct than they are today, but the idea of public standards
used to be more or less universally subscribed to rather than condemned.
Characters in movies, regardless of the time or place the story is set
in, always speak and act like twentieth-century American liberals. "Art"
focuses almost exclusively on the disgusting, the bizarre, and the vulgar.
Moral skepticism and relativism reign to such an extent that I regularly
find myself arguing over the (I thought) non-controversial proposition
that reality is real.

So will I miss the twentieth century? Yes, in the sense that I originated
here twenty-eight years ago and, for good or ill, I am a product of my
age. I acknowledge there is both good and evil to bid farewell to in this
century of wars, progress, death, advancement, tax slavery, and wealth.
But I look forward to the future with optimism for a rebirth of freedom,
decency, and the understanding that, yes, Virginia, reality really is
real.